Ribicoff's Memories Of Hard Times In New Britain Inspire Students

Ribicoff's Memories Of Hard Times Inspire Teens

NEW BRITAIN — When Abraham Ribicoff was a student at New Britain High School, he worked at a dry goods store on Main Street sweeping floors and making deliveries.

One cold day, as he delivered a bundle of quilts to a house, a dog attacked him, tore his trousers and bit his leg. When the young Ribicoff returned to the store, his leg bleeding and tears in his eyes, the owner saw what had happened -- and fired him.

"From that time on, I knew I had to always defend people who were subject to an injustice," Ribicoff, 83, told students Wednesday at his alma mater.

It was a rare public appearance for the high school's most famous alumnus, the son of poor Polish immigrants who worked his way from an unpaved street in the Hardware City to the upper reaches of the U.S. government.

Most of the youngsters in the audience Wednesday were born during Ribicoff's third and last term in the U.S. Senate. His tenure as governor of Connecticut, from 1955 to 1961, falls in the realm of history for them, as does his service in the Cabinet of President John F. Kennedy.

But his rags-to-riches story seemed to be something the students could identify with in the present.

"His parents were poor, but he made it anyway," said Zenaida Tavarez, a ninth-grader who approached Ribicoff with a few questions after his 30-minute talk. "New Britain's a small town, but he made it."

Principal Evan Pitkoff began writing to Ribicoff about four years ago, asking him to speak at commencement.

Each year, he said, he got a gracious letter declining the offer because of other commitments. This year Ribicoff offered to speak to the students, though not at commencement.

Ribicoff was born in the city, went to Smalley School and graduated from the high school in 1927. He started working at the age of 10 selling the New Britain Herald.

"We always lived on the third floor, because on the third floor the rents were cheaper," he told the assembly.

He traced his childhood and youth, mentioning people who helped him, such as the Italian immigrant named Angelo who worked beside him digging ditches along Stanley Street.

"I learned, at that time, that everybody knows something that I don't know," he said. "I always, always, respect everybody else, irrespective of their background and their knowledge."

When he opened the floor to questions, students rose to ask his opinion on the crime rate, the economy, the status of women in politics and how he feels when politicians are called crooks. A teacher asked how he manages to keep fit.

When one student asked who had paid for his education, Ribicoff had a simple answer.

"I always worked," he said, "and there was no free lunch."

More than a decade after his retirement from public life, Ribicoff still works, at the New York law firm of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler, and keeps busy with numerous other activities. He and his wife, Casey, divide their time between homes in Manhattan and Cornwall.

But he still credits New Britain with giving him a good start.

"I don't think any of this could have happened in any other town," he said